‘Bristol air is polluted and dangerous’

Healthy City Week is upon us and there are many events being held this week to celebrate what makes our Bristol homes and workplaces healthy, liveable places we enjoy spending time in. But to have a healthy city we must have clean air.   

We all want healthy cities and healthy lifestyles, but what does that mean? It means good food, safe drinking water and clean and safe air. We know Bristol has a growing reputation for great eateries, local organic food , city farms,  allotments and  loads of fantastic  community gardens. In fact we won a top award for sustainable food last year.

Our Bristol tap water is fantastic… don’t take my word for it check out the new the new Refill Bristol campaign to see why tap water is the healthy, safe and cheap option to keep ourselves hydrated while down at the gym or jogging or cycling to school.

So what about our air, perhaps the most basic ingredient in the recipe for health and wellbeing? This is the air we breathe, every minute of every day, every step of every journey in every lung in every citizen in Bristol. Is it award-winning? Is it clean and safe for citizens to breathe? Sadly the answer is no. At the moment we don’t win any awards for clean air, in fact it’s quite the opposite. Our Bristol air is so polluted and dangerous that it breaches European standards and on many busy roads is technically illegal.

Air pollution has been linked to Alzheimers, heart disease, lung disease, respiratory problems, loss of lung function. Asthma, bronchitis, cancer and ‘shortened life span’.

The European Union has set standards for the cleanliness of our air.  If you look at the map below you can see how many places across the city are in breach of these levels.  People are particularly at risk in the city centre and areas like St Phillips or by the M32 corridor. 

This map from the council’s own annual report on air quality shows in yellow and red all the sites that exceed the EU limit of 40microgram per cubic metre. Well over half of those measured exceed this limit.  

The state of Bristol’s air should make us angry. Polluted air costs lives. At least 200 people in Bristol die each year from air pollution, with recent research suggesting the number of deaths could be far higher. 

In addition to the human costs there is the massive financial cost to the NHS and the city. Across the UK as a whole the cost of air pollution is between £9 billion and £19 billion per year.

This is quite simply a scandal – and is completely unacceptable.

The sad thing is it isn’t even a recent scandal. Bristol Greens were campaigning against air pollution back in 1989. 27 years on we are still campaigning against poor air quality.

Finally the serious impact of air pollution is beginning to be recognised across the UK. In other cities such as Birmingham, Leeds, Nottingham Derby and Southampton Clean Air Zones will be created by 2020 as part of action to clean up polluted air.

Bristol must not be left behind. Our residents should not have to breathe polluted air. We urgently need a Bristol clean air zone and immediate action to clean up our air.

We also need to find out how many people across our city are affected by dirty air, which is why Greens have put together a survey on air pollution for all Bristol residents. We want to hear from Bristol24/7 readers about the impact of air pollution on you individually and what you think about it as an issue. (Don’t worry, it only takes a minute!).

And finally we need to move quickly. If we wait until 2020, a 1,000 people will ‘have their lives shortened’.  And even then, at best, we will only be starting to do something about the state of our air.

We need action, and we need it now.

Jude English is Green Party councillor for Ashley ward and chair of Bristol City Council’s Place Scrutiny Commission, which deals with transport issues 

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